Majority Chief Whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh has rejected allegations from the Minority in Ghana’s Parliament that government plans to hand over the nation’s gas resources to a private company, stating these claims are exaggerated and false propaganda.
“Such dubious alarm will not fly… This is your usual hyped & vile propaganda! … we have had enough of the NDC & your JM,” the Nsawam Adoagyiri lawmaker wrote on his X platform.
The political tension over Ghana’s natural gas resources reflects a major disagreement between the majority and minority groups in Parliament.
Conversely, the minority alleges that the government is bypassing required legislative processes to privatize the gas resources through underhanded means.
This they say will potentially lead to legal and financial consequences for the state which reflects deep-seated concerns about transparency and governance in the management of national resources.
Meanwhile, John Jinapor, the Minority Spokesperson on Mines and Energy, argues that the government has set up a local entity to bypass the required parliamentary approval for privatizing Ghana’s natural gas resources.
This approach, he says, is designed to facilitate the deal outside of the usual legislative scrutiny.
He warns that such arrangements, due to their lack of transparency and legality, could lead to significant financial liabilities for the state in the form of judgment debts.
“This has the potential of leading to serious judgement debt against the state,” he cautioned.
“We in the Minority wish to send a caution and let me make it clear that we are aware unimpeachable information indicates that some high-ranking officials in government are pressurising the Chief Executive of the Ghana Gas Company to sign some of these dubious contracts.
“Let me make it clear without equivocation that the next John Mahama administration will not be bound by illegal contracts. In as much as we respect the sanctity of contracts, we will not honour illegitimate, illegal, opaque, clandestine contracts that go against the Republic of Ghana,” he continued.
Jinapor has also criticized the pricing variations in these deals, suggesting that they are grossly unfavourable to the state.
Source: Comfort Sweety Hayford/ATLFMNEWS
